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The fashion industry is the second biggest polluter in the world. Major brands are exploiting garment workers and harming the environment in the production of shoes and clothing. However, there has been a rise in sustainable fashion brands, making everything from sportswear to underwear who are putting people and the planet before profit.

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As food & drink prices continue to rise across the world, it is often the producers and workers who are losing out to big corporations. We shine a light on the food sovereignty movement pushing for a fairer food system that supports local business and we comment on the rise of veganism.

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Many of the issues from our homes & garden are often hidden from the consumer, from toxic chemicals in our cleaning products to pesticides in our garden. We look at the greenest way to wash, clean and cook and how to recycle your old appliances.

The mainstream banking & insurance industries continue to invest in shady investments such as fossil fuels and nuclear weapons. However, a growing number of ethical alternatives makes it easier than ever to switch to a sustainable bank account or pick an insurance company with an ethical policy.

We look at shops or online platforms that sell a range of products, and how they tend to dominate the market by implementing a profit-first business model and by having a lacklustre approach to ethical practice. We also celebrate ethical companies offering an alternative, from online retailers to sustainable fashion brands.

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The tech sector is plagued by reports of tax avoidance, corporate lobbying and the use of conflict minerals. We look at the brands proving that technology can be made ethically, from Fairphone to Green ISP.

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Are you a lover of the outdoors? Unfortunately the companies that provide your outdoor gear & transport are often harming the environment; from car companies cheating emission tests to outdoor gear companies using toxic chemicals that damage the environment. We provide practical information for consumers on how to keep your ethics while you travel.

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In August 2018 Ethical Consumer viewed Amazon.com Inc and found that the company retailed cosmetics and beauty products. Due to the fact animal testing was prevalent in the sector Ethical Consumer expected Amazon to have a policy. No policy could be found therefore it received a worst Ethical Consumer rating in the category.

Reference:

In October 2013, it was announced that Amazon UK would stop selling foie gras after a Viva! campaign. It had previously stocked over a hundred products containing foie gras. Amazon UK prohibited “Animal products: Parts or products from whale, dolphin, shark, elephant (including elephant ivory) or from any other regulated endangered plant or animal are prohibited, as are products containing Foie Gras.”
However, the delisting did not apply to its worldwide operations, only the UK marketplace. As of August 2018, this was still the case.

Reference:

In August 2018 Ethical Consumer viewed Amazon's website for its policy on the selling of animal clothing materials such as fur, angora, merino wool, and silk.
Amazon's "Animals & Animal Products" under policy and agreements was viewed.

The list of prohibited items did not include fur or feathers (except from a list of endangered species), angora, merino wool from mulesing or silk. As a result Amazon lost a whole mark under Ethical Consumer's Animal Rights categories for the following reasons:

Fur and angora: the industry exploits and kills animals for fur for fashion. Many companies have banned real fur from being used in their products.

Down (feathers): According to campaign group Four Paws, animal suffering from the live-plucking and force-feeding of geese and ducks was present in the general down supply chains. In order to avoid these practices, a company was expected to adopt a standard that would trace and audit their whole supply chain, including higher-risk parent farms, to ensure such cruelties were excluded. Four Paws had found that certificates and audit reports from suppliers themselves 'do not provide sufficient guarantees that animals have a cruelty free life.'

Merino wool: According to PETA, the production of Australian merino wool involved the cruel practice of mulesing. Merino sheep are specifically bred to have wrinkled skin, which means more wool per animal. Attracted to the moisture, flies lay eggs in the folds of skin, and the hatched maggots can eat the sheep alive. In order to prevent this condition called “flystrike,” Australian ranchers perform 'mulesing' which involves carving huge strips of skin and flesh off the backs of unanesthetised lambs’ legs and around their tails. This is done to cause smooth, scarred skin that won’t harbor fly eggs, yet the bloody wounds often get flystrike before they heal. It was also unclear whether or not this wool was sourced from Australia.

Silk: Silk was considered to be an animal rights issue, as the conventional process of harvesting silk involved heat-treating cocoons before metamorphosis occurred – to prevent damage to the silk fibres. This heat treatment resulted in the deaths of the silk worm larvae inside.
An alternative to conventional silk was 'peace' or 'vegetarian' silk – so called because the silk is harvested after the caterpillars have developed and hatched into moths.

Reference:

In August 2018 Ethical Consumer viewed Amazon.com and found that the company sold leather. Amazon had its own shoe brands as well as selling hundreds of thousands of leather products through its website.
Over 70 Amazon own-brands for Clothing, Shoes & Jewelry, were listed in April 2018 at: www.recode.net/2018/4/7/17208804/amazon-private-label-brands-list
Amazon's own brands using leather included 206 Collective, Leather Architect, and The Fix.
Given the size of Amazon (one of the largest retailers in the world) leather was considered to form a substantial part of its business. It therefore lost a whole mark under Animal Rights category.

Leather, as the hide of a dead animal, naturally decomposes. To prevent this decomposition the leather industry uses a cocktail of harmful chemicals including trivalent chromium sulphate, sodium sulphide, sodium sulfhydrate, arsenic and cyanide to preserve it. Tannery effluent also contains large amounts of other pollutants, such as protein, hair, salt, lime sludge and acids. These can all pollute the land, air, and watersupply making it a highly polluting industry. As a result the company lost half a mark in the Pollution and Toxics category.

Reference:

In October 2013, it was announced that Amazon UK would stop selling foie gras after a Viva! campaign. It had previously stocked over a hundred products containing foie gras. Amazon UK prohibited “Animal products: Parts or products from whale, dolphin, shark, elephant (including elephant ivory) or from any other regulated endangered plant or animal are prohibited, as are products containing Foie Gras.”
However, the delisting did not apply to its worldwide operations, only the UK marketplace. As of August 2018, this was still the case.